Senate Panel Backs Proposal For Graduated State Income Tax

April 25, 1991|by Rick Pearson and Dan Culloton, Chicago Tribune.

SPRINGFIELD — The Democratic-controlled Senate Revenue Committee, with the inadvertent help of Republicans, advanced a measure Wednesday that could result in a $154 million income tax increase to the state`s more prosperous residents.

The legislation, sent to the full Senate on a 12-0 committee vote, would put the current personal income tax deduction and property tax deduction on a sliding scale based on income, in essence creating a graduated income tax.

Under the measure, taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of less than $10,000 a year could deduct three times the cost of their property taxes and take a $1,500 personal exemption. Taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $70,000 or more would not be allowed to deduct their real estate taxes and those with an income of $75,000 or more would receive no personal exemption.

Sen. Earlean Collins (D-Chicago) said her proposal was an attempt to put fairness into the state`s flat-rate income tax system, reducing the tax burden of the poor and placing more of it upon the wealthy.

GOP panel members failed to raise any objection to the bill during the vote. A commotion followed when they ultimately realized the bill`s potential, but they were blocked by Democrats from seeking another roll call vote.

In other action Wednesday:

- The House Judiciary I Committee endorsed a measure extending to homosexuals all human rights protections against discrimination in hiring and housing. The committee also passed a ``whistleblower reward`` bill that would encourage people to report cases of fraud against the state by offering them a percentage of the amount recovered by the government.

- The House Executive Committee backed bills requiring the burial or cremation of aborted fetuses, setting up a voucher program for public and private schools, freezing the pay of state employees who earn more than the governor, and limiting cigarette vending machines to taverns.

- A House education panel advanced a measure extending the school year over the next decade to 220 days from the current 176, even though it could cost the state $1 billion.

- The House Consumer Protection Committee rejected a bill prohibiting billboards promoting the sale of tobocco or alcohol from being erected within 1,000 feet of schools or churches.

- The House Revenue Committee endorsed a plan allowing home rule communities to offer up to 10 years of property tax relief to lure homeowners to areas of urban decay.

- The House Health Care Committee passed a bill setting up a program to protect tenants, especially children, from lead poisoning.